campiche



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.-

H. OAMPIGHB. ELECTRIC PENDULUM 01.0011.

No. 514,641. Patent ed Feb. 13, 1894.

(No Model.) H. 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

ELECTRIC PENDULUM CLOCK.

No. 514,641. Patented Feb. 13, 1894.

'Efllllflllllllllll UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRI CAMPICHE, OF GENEVA, SXVITZERLAND.

ELECTRIC PENDULUM CLOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 514,641, dated February13, 1894.

Application filed July 28,1893. Serial No. 481,682. (No model.)

.To whom it may concern/.-

Be it known that I, HENRI CAMPIOHE,maI1-= ufacturer, of Geneva,Switzerland, have invented an Improved Time-Distributing Pendulum, ofwhich the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to act from a certain central point bymeans of an extremely simple device upon several electric clocks of thewell known system, in which an electric current produces, every minuteor fraction of a minute, the jump of the hands by means of anelectro-magnet.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows a time distributingpendulum of my system upon only one clock. Fig. 2 shows at an enlargedscale theimpellent device. Fig. 3 shows the contact device on a largerscale than Fig. 1 and in side elevation, with partial section.

In the three figuresthe same letters and n umerals of reference refer tothe same parts.

Upon a board A or any other support the following elements are fixed:The bearing 1) of the pendulum B, the axis 0 of the wheel C, the bearingd of the contact fork D D and the elect-ro-magnet E. The ends of thecoils of the latter are connected by means of suitable wires to thebinding screws 6 and 6 The binding screw 6 is connected by means of awire to the arm I) of the contact fork. From the binding screw 6 startsa wire 2 which connects all the clocks F which are to be acted upon bythe distributing pendulum with one another and which ends at one of thepoles of the battery G (i n the drawings only one clock F is shown). Theother pole of the battery is connected by means of a wire 3 to thesecond arm D of the contact fork. The latter is then used as aninterrupter of the circuit which when closed connects the battery G bothwith the electro magnets of all the clocks F and with the electro-magnetE. The pendulum B will preferablybeofarelativelygreat weight. Itbears anarm H intended to work like a spring ratchet upon a click wheel 0loosely mounted upon the axis 0, so as to cause its advancing of onetooth in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 1, at each oscillation of thependulum. The wheel 0 bears one or more arms K in insulating material,the ends of which carry small metallic pieces It to close momentarilythe above described circuit by connecting together the two arms D and Dof the contact fork. According to the number of teeth of the wheel G andto the number of contact arms, the circuit will be closed once, twice orseveral times in a minute, and will produce each time the setting of allthe clocks in the circuit and a corresponding advancing of their hands.At the same time the closing of the circuit produces the excitation ofthe electro-magnet E and consequently the attraction of its armature M,hinged to the bearing of the electro-magnet E at m. The pendulum carriesa lateral arm having a rod Jarranged so as to slidein a supportN fixedto the pendulum. One of the ends of the rod J carries a spring j whichrests against the pendulum and the other end of said rod is intended tomeet at the end of each oscillation of the pendulum the armature M ofthe electro-magnet. The said armature M hinged at m as above specified,is usually pressed against a spring stop m fixed to the boardA by theaction of a counterweight m upon an arm M of the armature M. lVhen therod J meets the armature at or somewhat before the end of theoscillation of the pendulum, the armature is lifted as shown by fulllines in Figs. 1 and 2, from the position shown by dotted lines in Fig.2 until the pendulum oscillates in opposite direction. If in doing so itcauses the contact fork D D to be closed by the contact piece theelectro-magnet E will at the same time be excited and the armature lllattracted. This causes an impulse to be given to the pendulum B by theaction of said armature hl upon the rod J. Now it might happen that thesaid armature M by coming into contact with the pole pieces of theelectro-magnet E would become magnetized and remain in contact withthem; therefore I provide the spring-shaped stop m which retracts orholds the armature M in the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2 assoon as the electric current exciting the electro-magnet E is cutoff.Each time the pendulum temporarily closes the circuit, it produces thejump of the hands of the clocks with which it is combined and at thesame time it gives to itself through the electromagnet E a mechanicalimpulse similar to that which is usually given to any balance orpendulum for putting it into action.

The wheel 0 might be replaced by a rack or toothed segment acted upon inthe same way by means of an arm of the pendulum B and lifted one toothfor each oscillation of the said pendulum. This rack would then directlyor indirectly close the circuit at the end of its stroke and would comeback to its starting point under the action of its own Weight or of aspring when lifted to its extreme position.

The wheel 0 may be combined with suit able gear wheels, hands and dialsso as to indicate the time at the central station where the pendulum isplaced.

Having described my invention, I claim- The combination of a pendulum B,and an 20 electric circuit connecting an electric source G. withanelectric clock, with an electro-magnet E, and a device for interruptingthe circuit, consisting of the contact fork D',.D

and a device which acts temporarily upon the said interrupter of thecircuit so as to close the circuit after a certain number of vibrationsof the pendulum, the armature 0f-

